Research Articles & Links: June 2009 Archives

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General Motors Chevrolet Equinox fuel cell-electric SUV is shown during
a dedication ceremony of California's first hydrogen refueling station
in Los Angeles on Thursday, June 26, 2008. (AP / Damian Dovarganes)

Updated Thu. Jun. 4 2009 5:34 PM ET

The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER -- The shine went off
hydrogen fuel-cell cars well before the auto industry drove off a cliff
last year, but that doesn't mean carmakers have abandoned the
zero-emission technology.

In the 1990s, proponents predicted consumers could be driving fuel-cell vehicles as early as next year.

But they underestimated the obstacles in the way of producing a
reliable, affordable car with the kind of range and drivability
motorists now take for granted.

The U.S. government, facing a trillion-dollar deficit and a costly
bailout of ailing domestic automakers, has slashed research funding for
automotive fuel cells in favour of alternatives such as
battery-electric and biofuel-powered vehicles.

Canadian fuel-cell pioneer Ballard Power Systems Ltd., of Burnaby,
B.C., has virtually given up on the automotive side, focusing instead
on more prosaic applications such as industrial forklifts and
stationary backup power generators.

But the major automakers, including one-time Ballard partners
Daimler-Benz and Ford, as well as embattled General Motors, are still
sure hydrogen fuel cells represent the best long-term answer for
reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Fuel cells combine hydrogen and air to produce electricity by
running them through a chemical catalyst. The only byproducts are heat
and water.

Auto industry experts at this week's international conference on
fuel cells in Vancouver said even if carbon-based sources such as
natural gas or biomass are used to produce the hydrogen, fuel cells are
more energy efficient and produce far less CO2 than hybrids or plug-in,
battery-powered vehicles.

But for now, fuel-cell vehicles represent part of a multi-faceted
solution to reduce greenhouse gases and conserve petroleum resources,
they said.

Battery-electric vehicles seem the best choice now for
short-distance city use, with plug-in hybrids that use small on-board
engines to recharge their batteries better suited to longer distances.

Conventional gasoline- and diesel-powered trucks will continue to be the mainstay in the commercial sector for some time.

Down the road, though, they agreed hybrids should provide the
range, power and all-weather durability to replace conventional cars.

The generally accepted goal is to produce a vehicle that can go 500
kilometres without refuelling while surviving northern winters and
desert summers.

Automakers are closing in on those goals.

Honda's latest fuel-cell car, the FCX Clarity, has a range of 390
kilometres and can start in temperatures ranging from -30 C to 95 C,
Ryan Harty, a Canadian-born engineer with American Honda's fuel-cell
research centre in Torrance, Calif., said in an interview.

Automakers have largely settled on 2015 as a target date to get mass-produced fuel-cell cars into dealer showrooms.

Development lately has gone on largely out of the public spotlight
as the focus shifted to hybrids and plug-in cars such as the Chevrolet
Volt.

The first ungainly prototypes had fuel-cell stacks, which produce
the electricity, and drive systems so bulky there was room for little
more than the driver.

Development has shrunk the components so they can be packaged in a
compact car or mid-sized SUV. The Clarity's fuel-cell is roughly the
size of a desk-top computer and sits in the car's centre console
between the driver and passenger.

A dozen fuel-cell cars, including the Chevrolet Equinox, the
Clarity and Mercedes-Benz's A-Class F-CELL, drove into Vancouver on
Wednesday after a 2,700-kilometre trip up the West Coast from San
Diego, Calif.

Consumer-ready Clarities are being leased to motorists in
California for three years to test their real-world durability. The
lessees are a mix of average consumers and celebrities such as actress
Jamie Lee Curtis.

"We wanted to make sure people were paying attention," said Steve Ellis, American Honda's manager of fuel-cell marketing.

The cars are being leased through dealerships so they would get an
idea of what it takes to sell and service fuel-cell vehicles, he added.

In all, there are about 300 fuel-cell vehicles from different
makers in the hands of California drivers, including a version of GM's
Equinox crossover SUV. GM is also promising to bring eight to Canada
for use at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

These are not test mules, says Lawrence Burns, GM's vice-president of research and planning.

"These vehicles are real," he says.

Andreas Truckenbroadt, chief executive of the Vancouver-based
Automotive Fuel Cell Partnership, said cost reduction remains the
biggest challenge for commercializing fuel cell vehicles. The goal is
to make them comparable to current engine technology.

"We still have a way to go but we know how to get there," he said.

He supports the idea of co-operating to develop some components the
customers don't see, such as hydrogen compressors, valves and
humidifiers, that don't effect performance or driving characteristics.

"We're fierce competitors but we should not be worrying about brand
specifications," said Truckenbroadt, who comes from Daimler-Benz.

Burns agrees there's room for collaboration among automakers and suppliers.

"It's silly to put our capital and our engineering dollars into
those parts if they're not going to be the basis for winning the race,"
he says.